Alternative Housing

Henry David Thoreau wrote about living the simple life in his
book Walden. For two years he lived in
a small cabin he built by Walden Pond,
learning to be self-sufficient and earning
money from the beans he grew.

Anna Hess and her husband, Mark Hamilton, have created their own “Walden” on
their 58-acre swampy property in Virginia.

Their website, www.WaldenEffect.org,
traces their journey from newbie homesteaders to experts—authors of over twenty-five books and founders of a chicken
waterer microbusiness that supports their
endeavors.

Anna says her “main goal was to find a
relatively large acreage for a low price.

I figured elbow grease could turn just
about any property into a dream homestead, but debt would hang around my
neck for a very long time. So when a

58-acre property turned up for $600 per
acre, I jumped at the deal. Who cares
if you had to walk half a mile through a
swamp to the only inhabitable spot?”
And she’s not kidding about the swamp.

Anna says it best, “The result has been—to quote Lemony Snicket—a series ofunfortunate events. During our nineyears in residence, we’ve had to rushhome early to beat floods, have watcheda trio of intrepid roofers carrying metalpanels across that same log becausethe only day they had to work wasduring high water, and have accidentallydropped a journalist in what we fondlyrefer to as the alligator swamp when shebounced off the back of our golf cart andlanded in the muck. Later, my father sankup to his knees in the same part of thealligator swamp and—to hear him tellit—almost didn’t make it out alive.”With right around ten years of home-steading experience, Mark and Annahave a wealth of knowledge on whatto do, not to do, and how to overcomeobstacles—including a finicky creek thattends to flood. Their list of homemakingprojects for this year includes “building afolding bathtub/kitchen-counter combo”and “redesigning our woodshed so itholds two years’ worth of fuel.” Outside,they are going to focus on “achievingcompost self-sufficiency” and “trying outtechniques like espaliering to help fruittree blooms bypass late spring freezes.”But, it’s taken nine years to get to thispoint.

Anna’s experience is that new homesteaders tend to last about seven years
and often return to the city life for three
reasons: 1) burnout, 2) lack of money,
and 3) lack of partner support. Let’s dive
into these and see how Anna’s tips can
apply to your own homestead.